Euthyphro Dilemma

• "Is conduct right because the gods command it, or do the gods command it because it is right?"- Plato
• The Euthyphro Dilemma questions the nature of the Divine Command theory
• The Euthyphro Dilemma was written by Plato as a dialogue between Socrates and Euthyphro, both awaiting trial. Socrates for his own corruption of the youth, and Euthyphro as he was convicting his father of murder
• The Euthyphro Dilemma raises two important questions:

  1. Is that which is morally good, good, because God commands it?
  2. Does God command it because it is morally good?
• The first point states that if God permits something then it is automatically morally good, if he condemns something then it is automatically morally bad
• Point 1 claims that morality is completely and solely down to what God deems moral
• Point 1 would argue that morality is arbitrary and that good and evil rests solely on God
• Point 1 means that morality is fluid and entirely dependent on God, therefore morality does not exist independently from God's will
• Point 2 argues that God has not decided what is good and instead morality is independent and cannot be controlled by God
• Point 2 implies that God is bound by morality and that morality is above God
• Point 2 claims God cannot change morality and cannot make what is immoral moral and what is moral immoral
• Point 2 argues that morality not only limits God's omnipotence, but it also means that we do not need God to understand morality
• Point 2 argues that if morality is above God, then God is not the rule maker, he is just the rule discoverer
• The problem with Point 2 is that it assumes there are objective moral values which can be discovered through reason or intuition
• If there are no objective moral values, then point 2 fails as it relies on them